Oct
30
One of my all time favorite books is “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. In it he describes the concept of a “Level 5 Leader”. These are CEO’s or leaders of companies that have had sustained success over a period of 15 years or more. Their success started at a clear point in time.
Here’s a level 5 leader summarized:
- Embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will.
- Ambitions for the company, not for themselves.
- Set up their successors for even greater success. Level 4 leaders set up their successors for failure to boost their egos even more.
- Level 5 leaders display modesty and are self-effacing and understated. In contrast level 4 leaders have gargantuan personal egos that contribute to the demise or continued mediocrity of their companies.
- Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results.
- Level 5 leaders display a workman-like diligence - more plow horse than show horse.
Collins analyzes public companies, but this is very applicable to early stage startups. The only difference is scale.
What’s also interesting is that most of the succesful level 5 leaders in Collin’s companies are promoted from within the company. These are people who are used to being hands on and they know exactly what needs to be done to make the company successful.
As a developer/entrepreneur I find Collin’s research very inspiring. It means that the best CEO’s are not the ‘more mature’ MBA types that are picked for you by your venture capitalist. They are bred with the company.
CraigsList CEO Jim Buckmaster is a shining example of this. Jim was a developer at CraigsList and he understands the customer, why they use the service and the job that needs to be done daily and long term to make the company successful.
John Carmack, the founder of id software is another example of a great founder/CEO who grew his early stage tech company through hands on dillegence and a clear understanding of the company, the team and the market.
